Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data
This paper describes a strategy for effective discrimination and provenance evaluation of sandstones transported by different sediment dispersal systems using an integrated programme of heavy mineral analysis, mineral chemistry and zircon age dating. Sandstones derived from different source regions...
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ftucambridgeesc:oai:eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk:1760 2023-05-15T16:03:43+02:00 Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data Morton, A. C. Whitham, A. G. Fanning, C. M. 2005 application/pdf http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/ http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/1/MortonSedGeol182%282005%29.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 en eng http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/1/MortonSedGeol182%282005%29.pdf Morton, A. C. and Whitham, A. G. and Fanning, C. M. (2005) Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data. Sedimentary Geology, 182. pp. 3-28. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007> 02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics Article PeerReviewed 2005 ftucambridgeesc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 2020-08-27T18:09:00Z This paper describes a strategy for effective discrimination and provenance evaluation of sandstones transported by different sediment dispersal systems using an integrated programme of heavy mineral analysis, mineral chemistry and zircon age dating. Sandstones derived from different source regions are initially discriminated using provenance-sensitive heavy mineral parameters (ratios of abundances of stable, hydraulically-equivalent minerals). Differences between the heavy mineral populations are reinforced by single-grain mineral chemical analysis, which also provides further information on the nature of the source terrains. Zircon age dating of representative samples provides a test of the validity of the mineralogical discrimination and places further constraints on the location of the source areas. The value of this integrated approach is illustrated by a case study of deep marine Late Cretaceous-Paleocene sandstones in the Norwegian Sea. Potential sources of coarse clastic sediment lie both to the east, in mid-Norway, and the west, in East Greenland. Three main sand types (MN1, MN2 and MN3) have been identified, each of which has a unique combination of heavy mineral ratios (rutile:zircon, monazite:zircon, chrome spinel:zircon and apatite:tourmaline) and mineral chemistry (garnet and tourmaline). Sand type MN1 has a simple zircon age spectrum, with a large Early-Middle Proterozoic group and a small Early Paleozoic group, indicating derivation from northern mid-Norway. Sand type MN2 has a complex age structure including Archaean and early Proterozoic zircons, and can be ascribed to a source in East Greenland. Sand type MN3 has a simple age structure dominated by Middle Proterozoic zircons, and was sourced from southern mid-Norway. Since reservoir presence is a major area of uncertainty in the deep water Norwegian Sea, the use of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data to discriminate sandstones of eastern and western origin is crucial to hydrocarbon exploration of the area. Article in Journal/Newspaper East Greenland Greenland Norwegian Sea University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences: ESC Publications Greenland Norway Norwegian Sea Sedimentary Geology 182 1-4 3 28 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences: ESC Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftucambridgeesc |
language |
English |
topic |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics |
spellingShingle |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics Morton, A. C. Whitham, A. G. Fanning, C. M. Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
topic_facet |
02 - Geodynamics Geophysics and Tectonics |
description |
This paper describes a strategy for effective discrimination and provenance evaluation of sandstones transported by different sediment dispersal systems using an integrated programme of heavy mineral analysis, mineral chemistry and zircon age dating. Sandstones derived from different source regions are initially discriminated using provenance-sensitive heavy mineral parameters (ratios of abundances of stable, hydraulically-equivalent minerals). Differences between the heavy mineral populations are reinforced by single-grain mineral chemical analysis, which also provides further information on the nature of the source terrains. Zircon age dating of representative samples provides a test of the validity of the mineralogical discrimination and places further constraints on the location of the source areas. The value of this integrated approach is illustrated by a case study of deep marine Late Cretaceous-Paleocene sandstones in the Norwegian Sea. Potential sources of coarse clastic sediment lie both to the east, in mid-Norway, and the west, in East Greenland. Three main sand types (MN1, MN2 and MN3) have been identified, each of which has a unique combination of heavy mineral ratios (rutile:zircon, monazite:zircon, chrome spinel:zircon and apatite:tourmaline) and mineral chemistry (garnet and tourmaline). Sand type MN1 has a simple zircon age spectrum, with a large Early-Middle Proterozoic group and a small Early Paleozoic group, indicating derivation from northern mid-Norway. Sand type MN2 has a complex age structure including Archaean and early Proterozoic zircons, and can be ascribed to a source in East Greenland. Sand type MN3 has a simple age structure dominated by Middle Proterozoic zircons, and was sourced from southern mid-Norway. Since reservoir presence is a major area of uncertainty in the deep water Norwegian Sea, the use of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data to discriminate sandstones of eastern and western origin is crucial to hydrocarbon exploration of the area. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Morton, A. C. Whitham, A. G. Fanning, C. M. |
author_facet |
Morton, A. C. Whitham, A. G. Fanning, C. M. |
author_sort |
Morton, A. C. |
title |
Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
title_short |
Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
title_full |
Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
title_fullStr |
Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
title_sort |
provenance of late cretaceous to paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the norwegian sea: integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/ http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/1/MortonSedGeol182%282005%29.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 |
geographic |
Greenland Norway Norwegian Sea |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Norway Norwegian Sea |
genre |
East Greenland Greenland Norwegian Sea |
genre_facet |
East Greenland Greenland Norwegian Sea |
op_relation |
http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/1760/1/MortonSedGeol182%282005%29.pdf Morton, A. C. and Whitham, A. G. and Fanning, C. M. (2005) Provenance of Late Cretaceous to Paleocene submarine fan sandstones in the Norwegian Sea: Integration of heavy mineral, mineral chemical and zircon age data. Sedimentary Geology, 182. pp. 3-28. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.08.007 |
container_title |
Sedimentary Geology |
container_volume |
182 |
container_issue |
1-4 |
container_start_page |
3 |
op_container_end_page |
28 |
_version_ |
1766399413315436544 |